By Nicky Cubits
Her inner clock still working accurately, Mac awakened at 0530. The extraction was to begin at 0545 and her part was to move to a window in the back of the hangar and, if all was clear, signal them to come in.
For a minute she watched the steady rise and fall of his bandaged, blood-soaked chest, just thankful that he was still breathing. She loved him so much and couldn't live without him. Knowing he was suffering this much because he had been protecting her just made her love him all the more.
"Harm. Harm?" She shook him gently, hating to disturb him but it was better if he was awake for this.
He groaned, his eyes opening slightly but his brow furrowed in pain.
"It's
time." She helped him into a sitting position, leaning back against
the wall. "Take one of these," she said, offering an array
of tools that might be used as weapons - a hammer, a large wrench and
a screwdriver.
Forcing his eyes to focus, Harm chose the screwdriver. "Can't even lift that," he said of the hammer.
"Stay here and I'll go let them in." She wanted to kiss him but was still unsure of how much he remembered of what had happened between them that night. Did he really love her? She brushed the sweat fron his brow and slipped off amidst the early specks of dawn.
Noiselessly,
Mac climbed a ladder to the platform circling three sides of the hangar,
headed to the back window, opened it and
signaled. Soon, several armed men appeared. The first through the window
was none other than Chegwidden himself.
"Admiral," Mac nearly cried, stopped only by her Marine training.
"We have the place covered, Colonel. Let's get the Commander and get out of here," he whispered.
Mac didn't even have time to speak before they heard a sickening thud and a pained groan.
Dropping to their stomachs with the Navy Seals at their sides, Mac and A.J. looked over the edge of the platform in horror as two men stood over Harm, a trickle of blood on his face from the blow from the rifle butt.
Mac gasped and in the silent hangar the sound echoed to the ears of the two men. In an instant they had Harm on his feet, practically hanging in their arms as they used him as a shield.
Before A.J. could stop her, Mac was on her feet as well. "Leave him alone. He's hurt."
A.J. and the two Seals stayed low, trying to keep an element of surprise as the orginal plan fell apart.
"He's coming with us," one of the men answered with a Vietnamese accent, roughly tugging at Harm's injured arm.
"Take me instead," Mac pleaded.
"Mac, no," Harm rasped in protest.
He sounds awful, A.J. thought worriedly as he heard his young protege speak in painful gasps.
"No!" the man answered sharply. "The boss wants Commander Rabb."
Harm, Mac and A.J. were all startled. They knew who Harm was? Was this about the drug running scheme they had uncovered, or the missing Marine they had originally come to investigate, or about Harm himself? Damn, this was confusing.
"Now stay back," the man warned coldly. "He's coming with us."
Fighting
back the pain-induced nausea as the two men roughly began to drag him
to the door, Harm raised his head and looked directly at his beloved partner.
He knew this might very well be the last time he saw her. Unaware of the
presence of the rescue team, Harm spoke, his voice shallow with the pain.
"I love you, Sarah."